The third special flight carrying 134 stranded Pakistani nationals from Sana'a will arrive Islamabad at 2230 hours tonight. The passengers belonging to Karachi and Lahore will travel onwards by PIA flights. This number is slightly less than what was earlier anticipated, since some Pakistanis families residing in Sana'a chose to stay on in Yemen, despite having earlier registered for evacuation.
With the completion of this phase of evacuation, the total number of Pakistanis brought back from Yemen, since the emergency operation commenced last Saturday, March 29, 2015, has approached a thousand. This has involved three special flights, two naval evacuations, and one land evacuation, through neighboring Oman.
Another naval evacuation is planned for tomorrow from the port city of "Al Hudeida" for around 50 compatriots, which will almost culminate this extraordinary exercise, carried under the direction and guidance of the Prime Minister, to bring back home all stranded Pakistanis in Yemen, who have been facing extreme security challenges, due to the ongoing conflict in the country.
It is the excellent coordination and cooperation among all concerned departments, particularly, Civil Aviation, PIA, Pakistan Navy, PAF, OPF as well as our Embassies in Sana'a, Riyadh, Muscat, Beijing and Addis Ababa, which has helped effect a very organized and expeditious evacuation in very difficult circumstances.
Islamabad,
April 5, 2015